Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys

Moviecut—Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys

An okay film, but not a good depiction of Mike Love. Yes he has definitely had, and still has plenty of his moments. But this film focused way too much on his negative side.

Does anyone know the name of the song being performed by the band on stage when the Beach Boys arrived for their first live performance, a band was playing a surfer instrumental on stage at the beginning of the scene. I would love to know the title of the song or the artist being portrayed. I hope all the members of the Beach Boys know that their influence and contributions were historical and will never be matched. I am glad to be a member of the 70s Generation. The movie shouldn't have focused almost entirely on the bad elements of the band. Dennis was the one spotlighted for trouble, but if you think about it, it was the actions of Dennis that inspired most of Brian's wonderful collection of landmark hits.

I saw this film a couple of years ago and being a Beach Boys fan, i was hoping the film would be a half decent biography. But as soon as they finish "God Only Knows" the film just becomes boring. It hardly documents on Brian's health problems and his road to recovery with the help of Dr. Eugene Landy, and it focuses on Dennis' involvement with Charlie Manson a bit too much. I just think it is too brief and it is hard to watch with interest when the songs finish. The film could have been so much better if they had gone more in depth and brightened it up with more songs. So much happened in the Beach Boys career that wasn't even shown in the film.

As an avid film buff - I've got to say that despite "Summer Dreams" being a tv movie, it is of excellent quality. The acting, in particular Bruce Greenwood in the role of the late Dennis Wilson, is superb and the way in which the story is told is intriguing, touching and real without being over hollywood-ized. Summer Dreams is perhaps the best tv movie I have ever seen. As matter of fact I have had it on video since it first aired. in 1990...quite a long time. If you ever catch it in the tv listings, give it a shot -- it is well worth watching.

I loved this movie and have been trying to find it on DVD as it is one I could watch over and over. The film that captured the essence of the Beach boys and the many changing faces, moods and music of this iconic band. Bruce Greenwood as Dennis Wilson was really good, but for me Casey Sander as Mike Love stole every scene he featured. Lot's of Beach Boys hits are captured really well but the film concentrated on the bad times more than the good times, and the Dennis Wilson story is indeed a sad one. Thoroughly gripping and well made movie.

I thought this was a good film that captured the essence of the Beach boys. The conflict with the Father and his unreasonable behaviour was well acted out as were the many changing faces, moods and music of this great band. Of course in a 90 minute film covering many decades there will be omisions and errors but I was amazed at how much this film did cover. Most of the great songs are included and the actor playing Dennis Wilson was particularly good, although the Mike Love character was probably the most like the man himself, his role was underplayed. My only real criticism is I would have liked to have heard and seen more songs and maybe some of the more joyful times that this band no doubt would have had, but overall a damn good film I'd say.

I recognized most of the key points in the movie from biographies I have read in the past, so I assume it is fairly historically-accurate. However, the biopic is very rushed. It's never all that clear what time period you are in, skips over large chunks of time, and it treats everything as equally important. Brian Wilson literally goes from a clean cut Beach Boy to looking like modern-day Haley Joel Osment within minutes, and certain key events such as the development of Pet Sounds passes extremely quickly. So, what is there is accurate, and about 50% of it is fairly enjoyable to watch, but if I hadn't read a biography and didn't know some of their story going in, I wouldn't be quite sure what I had just watched. This would have been far better as a mini-series with a slower burn rate.

I lived through the beach boys era, I was just a kid when it began but spent many a great summer at beach boys concerts throughout the 70's Including one memorable concert in the former Foxboro stadium (now the Gillette stadium) Where they performed with the band Chicago and their combined vocal and instrumental talents shone. While the movie has been panned by many I would say it is the closest thing (in motion picture form) to a real view of their history. It in some ways minimizes their impact on both the music of the time and future musicians, but is a good start for anyone interested in learning about the band and what they still mean for so many even to this day.